A special salute to all those Veterans out there this Veterans' Day!

To those who are still with us and those no longer, we honor your service to our nation.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1919 marked the cessation of hostilities in World War I and became known as Armistice Day ending the 'War to End All Wars'. On June 1, 1954 it would become and is celebrated as Veterans' Day.

In this issue we want to bring you highlights and lots of pictures of our Veterans' Day activity along with a few new donations to the collections. We spent the day at Covington ISD (TX) and following a program in the gym, all the classes viewed the exhibit and mobile museum. Read the transcript of an interview of Colonel J.E. Smart regarding the Ploesti Mission of 1 August 1943 along with Q&A between Col. Smart and General Hap Arnold.

We would also like to announce the launch of our redesigned 9af.org website containing over 20,000 web pages.

Finally, we would like to wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgivng.

This in issue 124 of our newsletter! We hope you enjoy it.



Want to help Support Our Mission?

Sons of Liberty Museum - Secure Donation

Army Air Corps Museum - Secure Donation

Thank you for all of the great artifact donations!

We want to send out a special thank you to all of our volunteers who have been helping us on many projects. We could not have accomplished so much without your assistance! Contact us if you want to help.

Thank you for your support!

Artifacts help tell the stories, money makes the engine run, please

Donate Now!

We tell history! Saving Military History One Soldier at a Time.

Remember those that made the #ultimatesacrifice #mia #pow #kia #sonsofliberty. #patriots #army #navy #marines #aircorps #airforce #coastguard #spaceforce #merchantmarine; all those that have worn the cloth.

Join us on this journey.

In Their Memory,

Robert Coalter, Executive Director

Jason Weigler, Executive Director

Major Robert Weigler, Jr. US Army Ret. - Director

"Saving Military History One Soldier At A Time".^SM 

"Saving History One Soldier At A Time"^SM

It's now the start of giving season and unfortunately a tough economy. We realize you may be reassessing your giving this year. We have a new critical need. Over 7 weeks ago the truck that tows the mobile museum broke down. After a lot of trial and error, the problem was found and fixed after being in the shop for three weeks. This truck has over 300,000 miles on it and we anticipate it does not have much life remaining. So we need to raise funds to acquire a new truck. We would be honored to have your support.

All of the data through our various projects helps us recreate rosters; honoring as many servicemen and servicewomen as possible. We also want to provide you with historical narratives and other historical documents. This digital side of both the Army Air Corps Museum and Sons of Liberty Museum is 1/2 of what we do and we are committed to the continued growth of this part of our history preservation effort.

The artifacts, mobile museum and school eduction programs are the other 1/2 of our mission.

We have published over 1 Million web pages of history!

So What Can I Do?

1. Have photos, documents and other material for one of our many projects? Honor the veteran(s) in your family by sharing originals or digital copies of this material.
2. We welcome autobiographies or memoirs that you would permit us to place on the websites.
3. Volunteer. Many projects are remote work where you can work from the comfort of your own home. In fact we have volunteers from around the country.
4. Donate Artifacts. We accept artifacts for the collection and monetary gifts. You can honor-memorialize a veteran with a memorial marker for the mobile museum or have monies go to the general fund.
5. Donate Money. We need funding for artifact storage and display, our online programs and educational programs. All amounts welcome.
6. Sponsor a school field trip. Contact us for Texas schools.

Make a Secure Donation Today!

Thank You

SSGT Cornelius (Niel) Vander Tuin

387th Air Service Squadron

15th Air Force, ETO, WWII

Lt Col. Charles Neville Behrens

US Army

World War I: Ammunition Trains.

Post WWI: Army Artillery

World War II: Army Air Corps

Want to create a permanent memorial for your veteran or family member? Instead of a brick that wears away from foot traffic, memorialize that special veteran on the side of the USH-Constitution.

Bronze

This is a 2 1/2" x 22" name placard. This is a 2 row display with the first line containing the name and the second a unit, conflict and branch. The top row is approx. 1" tall and the 2nd line 3/4".

2 1/2" x 22" - $750

Silver

This is a 2" x 36" name placard. This is a 1 row display with the line containing the name, unit, conflict and branch. The lettering is approximately 1 1/2" tall.

2" x 36" - $1375

Gold

This is a 5" x 36" name placard. This is a 2 row display with the first line containing the name and the second a unit, conflict and branch. The top row is approx. 2" tall and the 2nd line 1 1/2".

5" x 36" - $2000

In all of our research, we continue to find first person accounts, official reports and other material of historical significance.

Interview Colonel J.E. Smart

INTERVIEW WITH COLONEL J. E. SMART, AC

NOTE: On 1 August 1943 the 9th U. S. Air Force carried out an attack against oil refineries in the vicinity of Ploesti, Rumania. The attack was carried out at zero altitude by approximately 164 B-24 aircraft, resulting in damage or destruction which, according to the late estimates, denies European Axis approximately 70% of the Rumanian Refining capacity. Col. J. E. Smart, who is a member of General Arnold’s staff, participated in the planning for the operation in Washington, England and at the operational base in the Middle East, from which the attack was launched.

***

               Approximately 1/3 of the petroleum products available to the European Axis are produced and refined in the vicinity of Ploesti, Rumania. The destruction of the Ploesti refineries would seriously interfere with the flow of finished petroleum products to Axis armies and Axis industries. The sudden and complete denial of 1/3 of her normal petroleum supplies would have a tremendous effect upon Germany’s war making capacity. It was to achieve this end that the Ploesti attack was made.

               The 9 refineries selected for attack present very small targets. It was estimated that approximately 2400 high altitude sorties would be required to obtain even partial destruction of each refinery. With the size force available, a minimum of two months would be required to perform 2400 sorties. The Ploesti attack would thus become a campaign. Each succeeding mission against the target would find the area more heavily defended, anti-aircraft accuracy would improve with practice, all strategic surprise would be lost, and means would be provided for denying even tactical surprise. Furthermore, an extended campaign against Ploesti would have denied the use of a very large heavy bomb striking force against any other targets.

               These factors and others led to the conclusion that an all out attack at zero altitude, boldly executed, would be the best method of doing the job at hand, and would, in all probability, result in fewer losses of personnel and equipment than would be sustained in a prolonged series of attacks at high altitude.

               The Ploesti operation differed from normal bombardment missions in many respects. Perhaps its most significant difference is that heavy bombardment type aircraft were employed against targets in the manner that A-20’s or fighter bombers would be employed. What is equally significant is the fact that this operation was carried out with a great deal of success. This operation differed from others in that its plan of execution was worked out in detail behind desks in Washington.

               To illustrate the detailed planning that took place, the actual number of aircraft required for the destruction of each individual installation was determined prior to submitting the plan for approval. This was not a one-man job. Officers of the Intelligence Division, the Bombardment Division, the Air Corps Proving Ground and others, worked day and night perfecting a plan which appeared entirely feasible on paper. In addition, all intelligence material was collected from every known source.

               The largest majority of our information, of course, came from the target information section of the Intelligence Division of the Hq., Army Air Forces. This was supplemented by personal interviews with persons who had intimate personal knowledge of the Rumanian oil refineries. The majority of these refineries – or at least, major installations in the major refineries – were manufactured in the United States and installed by American engineers. We were thus able to procure blueprints and plot plans of the refineries themselves. The engineers who supervised the installations were able to add additional information that was of inestimable value. Existing U. S. refineries were visited; their layouts were studied; their operators were interviewed. From these people we learned which installations were most easily destroyed, which would be most likely to start large fires when attacked, and which would be the most difficult to replace. These interviews led to these conclusions:

1. The distilling units should be attacked and destroyed, for it is in these installations that the initial refining process takes place.
2. Cracking plants should be destroyed, for these installations are vital for procuring from the crude petroleum a larger percentage of fuels and better quality lubricants. Furthermore, the cracking plants are in almost every instance specially built for each refinery and are therefore more difficult to replace.
3. Boiler houses should be destroyed because most refineries fight fires with steam. The destruction of boiler houses would materially reduce fire fighting facilities and in addition, destroy one additional unit which is necessary for refining good petroleum. These installations were therefore selected as targets.

               In the 9 refineries in the Ploesti area there were 48 key installations, the destruction of which would have rendered all 9 refineries virtually useless. Forces were allocated for the destruction of each of these targets, allowing a 200% safety factor. This led to the requirement for 186 heavy bombardment aircraft. It is interesting to note that 178 aircraft took off to carry out the attack.

               When all of the work that could be done in the United States had been done, I was sent to England and to North Africa with the completed plan of attack and the enormous amount of intelligence material that had been collected. In England additional intelligence material wasprocured from the Air Ministry and from other sources. One of the best sources of information was the Admiralty Library in London, which had on file thousands of photographs and much information that had been obtained from travel folders, trade magazines, tourists, National Geographic and similar magazines. This vast amount of information had been collected and cataloged ever since the commencement of the war. One of the Intelligence officers of the 8th Air Force, Major G. K. Geerlings, obtained a job as fire watcher in the library at night in order that he could search through these files uninterruptedly for the required information, and incidentally, obtained this information without disclosing the section of the world in which he was particularly interested. Major Geerlings spent the major portion of 14 nights collecting this information.



               The RAF undertook the construction of scale models of each vital refinery and of the terrain surrounding Ploesti, Campina, and Brazii. As you know one very important refinery was located just east of Campina, which is 19 miles north of Ploesti and the most modern refinery in Rumania was located just west of Brazii. To aid in navigation an additional model was constructed on a 1 to 1,000,000 scale covering the area generally bounded by the Transylvanian Alps on the north, the Danube on the south, the Iron Gates on the west and the easternmost oil fields in the Ploesti area on the east. These models were so accurate that one officer who had lived in Campina was able to locate the exact position of his home. It is needless to say that these models were of inestimable value.

Read the Full Interview, Col. J.E. Smart including Q & A from General Hap Arnold.

MM-1776

Mobile-Museum 1776, 28ft of military history!

Veteran Memorials

With the mobile-museum we have a place for a visual honorarium and memorial for your veteran. Honor your veteran family member with a permanent marker on our new mobile-museum.

Like bricks or pavers, this permanent memorial will be seen by many at schools, veteran and civic events. Get your Veteran Memorial Today!

Read more about Sons of Liberty Memorials

Read More About Army Air Corps Memorials

If you are looking to volunteer with a non-profit we would welcome your assistance. We have a need to transcribe over 150,000 of these index cards. Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Soldiers Medal, Bronze Stars and Purple Heart. Getting this information into our database will allow us to make this data searchable. Contact us to get started!

We are also looking for General Orders of World War II, digital copies are welcome; volunteers to transcribe this data.

Transcription of monthly unit histories and other documents are projects to help us recover and preserve history and are fantastic accounts written close to the actual events rather than decades later as memories may fade.

There are still thousands classified as Missing in Action or as Buried Unknowns. In our partnership with the MIA Recovery Network we have established data on our websites regarding MIAs.

The quest to account for those of our nation's Missing in Action is one of the most noble of endeavors. There are also a large number of recovered remains that are buried in ABMC cemeteries where the identity is unknown. These are known as X-Files.

The recovery of MIAs pose a number of challenges. For example, Navy or Merchant Marine ships that were sunk are unrecoverable and thus ship manifests are the primary and often only source of names for those that have perished but are still accounted.

Each conflict has had its own challenges. At the end of World War II the military had established more than 360 temporary cemeteries, but the dead were being found continually in farm fields, forests, small church cemeteries, isolated graves and the shores of combat zones. These dead were collected and the remains consolidated into the fourteen permanent European, Mediterranean, and North African Cemeteries maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission along with two permanent cemeteries in the Philippines and Hawaii.

Monetary donations are needed and very welcomed to support these efforts to create case files.

Please consider a DONATION today. Thank You.

#neverforget #bringthemallhome

Sons of Liberty Museum

The Sons of Liberty has hundreds of uniforms and thousands of other artifacts in our collection from the U.S. Revolutionary War to Present day. Our web presence now numbers in excess of 500,000 pages. We continue to accept new material for education and research programs.

Our collection includes memorabilia from the front line soldier to the rear echelon clerk. Drivers, infantrymen, pilots, tankers, seaman, medical, artillery, armorers, engineers, quartermasters and much more. Those that were drafted or volunteered; those that did a single tour or made it a career. Those that returned with all types of injuries and those that gave their full measure; killed in action (KIA). All MOS are welcome from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines.

Monetary donations help us preserve and display these pieces of American History. Thank you for your support.

We are Saving Military History One Soldier At A Time. We are honoring the service of the Citizen Soldier.

#sonsofliberty

Volunteers

We need volunteers to transcribe award and roster documents. You will place the material into a spreadsheet where it will be added to our database and website. We welcome new dedicated volunteers to work from home and help us with this project!

Interesting Links & Resources

Researching History: https://www.sonsoflibertymuseum.org/military-history-records.cfm

Honor Roll: https://www.sonsoflibertymuseum.org/honor.cfm

Donations

We welcome donations of monies for operational costs. Artifact donations are sought in the form of papers, books, photos, gear, uniforms, jackets, medals, ribbons, weapons, equipment, scrapbooks, biographies, diaries and more. Please Contact Us

Revolutionary War, War if 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Cold War, Gulf War and current conflict donations accepted. From small to large multi-item donations, they all tell a story.

We need you ! We need your help to further our mission of preserving and bringing this history to the public. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit your qualifying donations are tax deductible.

Army Air Corps Museum

The Air Corps Museum online presence encompasses over 500,000 web pages with thousands of photos and other materials. Our artifact collection contains hundreds of uniforms, albums, logs, medals and more from the Army Air Service, Army Air Forces and U.S. Air Force.

World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Cold War, Gulf War and current conflict donations welcome!

Volunteers

We need volunteers to transcribe documents, placing the material into a spreadsheet. We welcome new dedicated volunteers to help us with this project! Work from home.

Interesting Links & Resources

Trace a Family Members Military Service: https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/veteran-research.cfm

Honor Roll: https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/honor_roll.cfm

Donations

We welcome donations of papers, books, photos, gear, uniforms, jackets, medals, ribbons, weapons, equipment, scrapbooks, biographies, diaries, letters and more. Please Contact Us

Monetary donations help us preserve and display these pieces of American History. Thank you for your support. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit your qualifying donations are tax deductible.

As a non-profit it's important to let our patrons know where some of their money is going.

This riker-mount display box is one of the most important pieces that we use. They contain ribbons, medals, patches, pictures and other small memorabilia items. They are great to help reserve items as well.

Each year we purchased 500 of these items. We will fill them all with great artifacts in less than 12 months. $5000.

Constant Contact charges us $1200 annually to create, store and send this newsletter.

Our web servers, domains and hosting cost $8200 / year. Our hosting requirement of storage will only increase over the coming years as we continue to add to our online material.

The annual total for just these three components is $14,400. Naturally, we have other expenditures, but 100% of monetary donations go to operations. All staff and directors are volunteers.

Monetary donations are needed and very welcomed to support these efforts.

Please consider a DONATION today. Thank You.



We rescue a lot of military artifacts; items destined for the trash heap. From torn papers and faded ribbons to moth damaged uniforms decades pass and the condition of items deteriorate. These artifacts still have a story to tell.

Many museums only want items in pristine condition, we say differently. Some so called museums only want materials from a well known commander written up in history books or the fighter ace or a man who would fly to the moon or a Medal of Honor recipient.

While we have artifacts such as these we also have the items of the draftee who answered their nation's call and served their tour and then went home. Some were not so fortunate, and there is a special place in our hearts for the KIAs. We are honored and humbled to have artifacts from a number of these heroes. In our mission of "Saving Military History One Soldier at a Time" it is about all who have worn the cloth of our nation's military. Artifacts help us bring stories to life no matter their condition.

We accept donations of artifacts in ALL CONDITIONS.

This year we began redesigning our websites, many of these have not had a new design for 10 years. So far in 2024 we have completed:

5thaf.org - Fifth Air Force

7thaf.org - Seventh Air Force

47th Bombardment Group

Army Air Corps Museum

Sons of Liberty Museum

We have quite a few more websites to go; but keep following us and this newsletter for updates.

---- What is Liberty ? ----

"definition. the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views." 

Merriam-Webster defines it as " the power to do as one pleases, the freedom from physical restraint and freedom from arbitrary or despotic control.

---- So what is a Son of Liberty? ----

In our context and beginning these were the men and women in America who wanted their liberty and freedom from the King of England. They desired a right of self-determination for their lives.  They fought for this liberty and codified it in the Constitution of a new country.  To keep this liberty they created a military to ward off the any would-be belligerent. Since the War of Independence until and including the present day the men and women who have worn the cloth of our nation's military are its Sons of Liberty.  They have fought enemies in other nations, they have fought each other and they have stood as sentinels of the watch.

We celebrate the service of these individuals, we tell the historical story of these selfless patriots.

---- The Sons of Liberty Museum ----

Over 15 years ago we chose a name for this organization and our sister the Army Air Corps Library and Museum. We believe these names accurately describe these men and women who serve. We will not change any name to satisfy a radical viewpoint or computer algorithm. We don't allow for any revisionist history, we tell the factual stories.

We are Saving Military History One Soldier at a Time.

Need a Good Book, DVD?

Check out these titles.

We would like to send a shout out to our website design partner, InterNet Partners, who has helped us with a variety of database programming and web design over the years.